Age of Ultron #4Review

The most glaring flaw with Age of Ultron so far has been its slow, plodding pace. The ending to issue #3 seemed to suggest this would finally change as the series veered in a new direction. And to some extent the pace does pick up in issue #4. But the big twist doesn't inject the series with new life in quite the way I was hoping. My first thought on reaching the end of issue #4 was still, "It should not have taken four issues to get to this point."

Issue #3's twist was interesting because of what it implied. It suggested that Brian Michael Bendis was pulling the rug out from under us and revealing that Vision, not Ultron, was the mastermind of this catastrophe all along. It also suggested that, even if the Avengers are able to restore the world to the way it was, the question of what drove Vision mad and how to respond to that conundrum would remain. It would give this event a sense of lasting consequence, something that it currently lacks. Sadly, none of these suggestions are borne out in issue #4. Vision is quickly revealed to be just a pawn of Ultron, and so the book resumes spinning its wheels as Earth's heroes slowly mass for a counteroffensive. To his credit, Bendis writes the Vision material really well. This sequence has a highly creepy vibe that actually does more to extol the menace of Utron than anything in the previous three chapters.

The fact that Age of Ultron has so far played out like a standard alternate universe conflict is both a blessing and a curse. The fact that Bendis is free to kill any character he chooses helps inject the book with some dramatic weight and a sense of unpredictability. However, that starts to backfire in issue #4, as Bendis is too cavalier in wiping players off the board. The book lacks a tangible lead protagonist because, at this point, any character who hops into the spotlight is liable to be lasered to death by an Ultron drone. We need to be able to become more invested in these characters if this series is ever going to develop a deeper emotional core. Some of the deaths in this issue just feel wasted.

As mentioned, Bendis does finally begin maneuvering the survivors towards an actual showdown with Ultron, linking the Avengers with the smaller groups of resistance fighters we've seen earlier in the series. However, here the series begins to suffer from a problem familiar to a lot of Bendis' team books. The cast balloons in these later pages, yet the characters lack distinctive voices. There's a two-page spread in particular where every single word balloon might as well be coming from the same character's mouth. And some of this dialogue just feels off. For example -- Iron Man wistfully remarking that he's never seen a nuclear explosion. Emma Frost's comment that her psychic powers aren't what they used to be reads like a shoehorned attempt to make Age of Ultron reflect current Marvel continuity. I'd really prefer Bendis not even bother on that front. The book picks up steam towards the end, but there are several rocky patches along the way.

This is Bryan Hitch's penultimate issue of the series, and at this point there's little left to be said about his artwork. His various landscape shots look great. He crams ample amounts of detail into his ruined cityscapes and other environments. He paints an equally bleak picture of a Savage Land gutted by apocalyptic warfare. The many wide shots lend the book a generally cinematic, event-worthy feel. But his figures never benefit from the same sense of consistency and vitality. Background figures and panels that feature a large assortment of characters are much more loose haphazard. One odd quirk with this issue is that the interior art and cover alike make it obvious that Luke Cage wasn't originally drawn with hair. His hairdo looks scribbled on at the last minute.

Age of Ultron is far slower than any event comic has a right to be, and even after four issues it feels as if this story has barely begun. But issue #4 does give the sense that the conflict will soon grow more interesting, and there are enough standout moments to tide readers over for another week.

Okay

Age of Ultron #4 is another slow chapter in a slow event comic, but there's light on the horizon.